Took Monday off from work to burn some vacation and to take advantage of some hopefully good weather. After fighting gusting winds Saturday on my trip to the missions down south, Sunday was as calm as could be. Today was supposed to be just a little windy near at my destination near Santa Fe, but I hoped the worst winds would be in the afternoon.

Headed east in old highway 66 and this time instead of heading south in NM 14 as on Saturday, directed the bike north. This section of highway is called the Turquoise trail and the general route has been used for hundreds of years in the turquoise trade. Turquoise from nearby mines has been identified in Indian artifacts at least as far south as Central America. They didn't have much dynamite in the old days to blow roadways through mountains and hills, so this road winds into the hills for at least 50 miles. At one point the Sandia mountains to the south, the Jemez range to the west, and the Sangre de Cristo range to the north are all visible and spectacular with their snow capped peaks. Would have been picture-worthy but the expanse of the subject would made have an unimpressive 5x7 picture.

One interesting attraction on this route is the city of Madrid. It's a small old mining town that has become a haven for artists/burnouts. 30 years ago you probably could have bought the town for 50 bucks, now I bet you could spend that on a meal! Really neat, could be right out of "Alice's Restaurant". They could probably change the name of the town to "No War With Iraq" based on the number of signs posted to that effect within the city proper.

This small road hits the Interstate just south of Santa Fe. I'm not an Interstate kind of guy, but there are some destinations in New Mexico that practically require the use of these highways. Speed limit here is 75 mph for cars and 65 for trucks. I feel the maximum safe speed on a KLR is 65 mph and was comfortable at that speed with traffic. The speedo hit 75+ often as wind direction and my body position would cause differences in wind resistance/speed. Getting in a little crouch behind the tiny windscreen felt pretty good at the time, but several hours after the trip is over my back is complaining a bit. What the heck, it's was only 45 miles or so total at this speed...

Turned into the first exit (western) into Pecos and had 8 miles to drive through the "suburbs" to get to the monument. In town there was a sign on the road that said you were entering the monument and a half mile later saw the back of a sign that said you were leaving the monument. Drove back and forth several times thinking it was closed, finally went further down the road and found the visitor center. In retrospect it is probably better to use the eastern entrance to Pecos, the slow speed limit through town plus the fact that an NM highway patrolman regularly pedals his wares on the slower road is reason enough.

This monument marks several happenings in Pecos. The primary and most visible is the Spanish influence. This was the typical situation where the Spanish built a church near a pueblo where the Indians were already living around 1625. Around the same 1670-80 time period the other missions were abandoned, the natives revolted and the Spanish were chased off for 12 years.

Kivas (round covered holes in the ground) were used for Native American religious purposes. I've seen many of these in the missions visited during the last 3 days. Some were built after the Spanish were expelled in 1680. Others were obviously built on church property. It is thought that the friars may have let some be initially built by the natives to gain their confidence and then they filled them up later.

You can go down into a kiva if you want to, but it's kind of dusty inside. Tried to take a picture from inside looking out up the ladder but the dark/light contrasts so much that the camera freaks out.

The other purpose of the monument is to mark a Civil War battlefield. New Mexico was no man's land but troops from both side were in the area and several small conflicts occurred. This battle (skirmish) will be reenacted at the end of March.

Fought a 20 mph wind on the way home. Other motorcyclists were waving as we passed, unlike Saturday. Guess they were playing hooky from work, too. Out enjoying the ride.